


Little Moments

by jakia



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:50:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakia/pseuds/jakia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little moments from a big world. Small works of fiction that take place in the Dragon Age universe. Characters and pairings vary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the book club

**Author's Note:**

> for this kinkmeme prompt: http://dragonage-kink.livejournal.com/11864.html?thread=46750040#t46750040

“So, you’re a big fan of  _Swords and Shields?_ ”

Cassandra huffed and sat her book down. “If you are going to make fun of me like Dorian, Inquisitor, then I must ask you—”

“I’m not making fun of you,” Adaar blurted out. “I just—well, I was wondering, um—”

“Get on with it.”

“—whatdidyouthinkoftheending?” Adaar blurted, his cheeks turning rosy as he hid his face in his hands.

Cassandra blinked at him. Then she blinked again, for good measure. “Forgive me, Inquisitor, but I thought you just said—”

“The ending,” He repeated, straightening his back slightly. “When the Knight Captain is—well, I don’t want to  _spoil_  you but—”

“You read the book?” Cassandra gasped, jumping to her feet. “You’ve read _Swords and Shields_  as well?”

“Read it?” Adaar laughed lightly. “As soon as I realized who Varric was, I made him sign it!” Adaar grinned, pulling out his own copy. “Mind you, he thinks he actually signed  _The Tale of the Champion_  because I switched the cover, but still!”

“Oh, the  _Tale of the Champion!_ ” Cassandra squealed— _actually_  squealed. “I know I shouldn’t, but I was rooting for Hawke and Anders the entire time Varric told me his tale. If it hadn’t started the Mage Rebellion—”

“You’d want them to live happily ever after and adopt a thousand babies and kittens? I  _know_. I felt the same.”

Cassandra shrieked and jumped up beside the Inquisitor. “And in  _Swords and Shields_ , when the Knight Captain did the thing, and the Knight Commander—”

“ _I know_ ,” Adaar sighed wistfully. “It was my favorite part.”

Cassandra’s face broke out into a grin. “What did you think of the scene with Bella?”

“Oh, I cannot believe the  _nerve_  of that man—!”

It was a strange sight, watching a fully grown qunari man and a tough-as-nails Seeker  _squeal_  at each other in the courtyard of the Inquisition, but Dorian had to admit, it made him laugh. “You two do know  _50 Shades of Grey Warden_  is a thousand times better than that trash Varric wrote, right?”

“Liar!” Adaar turned and smirked at him. “You keep that trashy blood magic book away from my romance collection and out of my library, Dorian!”

“Trashy?  _Trashy?_  It’s sex! Passionate, filthy sex, with bondage and—”

“There’s no  _romance_ ,” Adaar mourned. “If I want to read a love story, I want it to be about  _love_ , not filth.”

“And you wondered, Inquisitor, where the rumors that you and Dorian were involved came from,” Cassandra laughed before she stroked her chin. “I don’t mind a bit of smut, personally. It’s  _passion_. What’s not to love about passion?”

Dorian waved his arms about. “See? The lady gets it!”

Adaar brushed him off. “I’m not anti-sex, Dorian. All I’m saying is that when I read a love story, I want it to be a  _love_  story. The sex shouldn’t be the most important part.”

“Um, excuse me,” Scout Harding squeaked. The trio jumped, having missed the dwarfette’s approach.

Adaar flushed crimson. “Scout Harding! We were just—talking—about things—”

“Things that absolutely had nothing to do with books!” Cassandra added quickly, throwing her copy on the ground as if to bury it from the sheer force of her throw. “Or sex! Or either of those things!”

Dorian shrugged. “I don’t know what these two are talking about. I’m all about both of those things.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to know,” Scout Harding merely pulled out a well-worn copy of  _Swords and Shields_  out of her pack. “Do you think Master Tethras would be willing to sign my copy, too?”


	2. family is what you make of it [Varric, Cole, Hawke]

There’s a small dwarven woman at Varric’s bedside when Cole walks in, on the other side of Hawke.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Cole says quietly, because he knows who she is, even though it’s been years since either he or Varric saw her.

“The merchant’s guild can kill me if they want to. I’m staying here with him,” Bianca’s smile is small and sad. “You grew.”

“You didn’t.” Cole says in return, and sits down beside her.

“I meant the beard.” Bianca laughs, trying to hide the tears swelling in her eyes. Beside her, Varric sleeps. He always sleeps nowadays.

“He’s trying to take after me.” Hawke tries to joke, but the light doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Dwarves have beards. His father and his brother both had beards,” Cole explains, petting the braided mane. Sometimes, he forgets that its there. “I’ll never be a dwarf, but I’ll always be his son.”

It would be a mercy to kill him, Cole knows. He’s not going to get better from this. The illness will cause him to suffer, and there is no cure. He’s only going to be in more pain the more time passes.

Cole’s knife stays firmly in its sheathe.

Varric’s eyes flicker awake. He squeezes Bianca’s hand, and looks at Cole with such love that the former spirit feels ashamed of himself. “Kid,” he wheezes, causing Bianca to fret and Hawke to hover. “You look ridiculous.”

Cole’s smile is weak. “I tried to grow chest hair like yours, but it wouldn’t work, so I had to put it on my face.”

Twenty years later, he’s  _almost_  learned how to tell a joke.

They laugh; Bianca cries, big, fat, wet tears streaming down her face. Hawke’s face is also wet, though he tries to hide it behind a half-grin, like he does most things.

Cole—Cole will cry later, he thinks.

Bianca is not his wife, Hawke is not his brother, and Cole is not his son, but they are Varric’s family, and they are here with him now, at the end.

It is enough. The three of them, they were always enough.


End file.
